Taken along the side of the road near Colfax, Washingon in the Palouse on June 10th, 2017.

Jim Patterson and I were up in the Palouse scouting for a workshop we were holding in a few days. Driving around the beautiful backroads and highways of the region Jim mentioned a tree he’d seen in a few photos and would like to find. In one of those bizarre moments of serendipity minutes later we rounded a bend on the road and saw the exact tree hiding in a small valley between two hilly fields. We sailed past, slammed on the brakes, whipped around and drove back to investigate. Finding a small turn off just barely big enough for the car we jumped out, confirmed it was indeed the tree he was looking for, then marveled at our luck while grabbing a few scouting snapshots.

A few days later with the workshop in tow and ponderous, thick clouds filling the sky overhead we once again stopped at the tree and walked our photographers around the scene suggestion different ideas and compositions. As I was showing a couple of photographers some telephoto shot ideas the sunlight slipped through a crack in the clouds overhead and lit up just one side of the tree along with the hillside behind it. The deep shadows on the ground in front of me combined with the moody skies above made it seem as though I was about to sink my teeth into a light sandwich. So I did, I clicked the shutter, and it was delicious.

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See more beautiful Palouse photos here.